After establishing the IndiNature Mill in the Scottish Borders - and with the production line now operational - a follow-on investment of £2m has been secured by Industrial Nature from the Scottish National Investment Bank.
The funding will be used to underpin a planned second stage of capital expenditure projects, including upgrades and additional production equipment to improve performance and manufacture new insulation products.
Andy Clapp, executive director for investment portfolio management at the Scottish National Investment Bank, said: “We have seen IndiNature go from strength to strength since our initial investment in August 2021 and are delighted to continue to support them through this planned scale up stage.
“The work of this company continues to support the delivery of the bank’s missions in developing innovative solutions to drive the industry’s transition to net zero.”
IndiNature chief executive and co-founder Scott Simpson said: “We would like to thank all the local engineers and other contractors who have worked with our fantastic mill team and machine suppliers to establish production and secure this second phase of investment - a big milestone.
“We're grateful to have an impact investor like the bank following on their original investment for this next stage of growth - an investor aligned with our mission to make positive impacts on scale for the climate and people's health.
“More than ever we need to urgently insulate homes in the UK with appropriate materials - natural products like ours not only insulate, the materials they're made from are also carbon negative, “ he continued, adding: “This investment is speeding up our ability to deliver healthy, low carbon products at high capacity to the market.“
The new investment follows on from an initial £3m investment by Scottish National Investment Bank in August 2021, which unlocked a further £800,000 in grant funding from Zero Waste Scotland's Circular Economy Investment Fund and £250,000 from South of Scotland Enterprise.
IndiNature was founded in 2016 and produces IndiTherm, a flexible thermal insulation made from industrial hemp sourced from farms in the UK.
The company continues to develop and manufacture new bio-based insulation for retrofit, new build and offsite construction, with high-density thermal and acoustic IndiBoards and its full IndiBreathe system to be launched in 2023.
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